Day 1: The Flag Off- Renault India Diamond Trail

It was a scaldingly hot afternoon in the depths of Gurgaon, and we were standing outside Renault India’s corporate office with our liveried-up Kwid. This was the same car that had accompanied us on the 29 States, 29 Days challenge and it was now on another challenge — the #IndiaDiamondTrail. Thomas Dubruel, VP – Sales and Marketing of Renault India was braving that 40 degree heat in a blazer, just to flag us off. The shutters went off with a click-click-click, as he waved the green flag, signalling us on our way.

Our destination for today was Ajmer —right in the middle of Rajasthan. The drive was supposed to be bland and uneventful for the 400km we drove, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. As soon as we left Gurgaon, we were thrown in to a proper storm with tree-breaking winds and occasional hail. Not the start we’d intended to have in the middle of summer, but we soldiered on while a lot of drivers just chose to pull over and let it pass. The sun eventually did come out and we thought we’d faced the worst of it, until we were caught in the middle of a dust storm. Visibility was nearly nothing and traffic slowed to a crawl. Oh well, all in a day’s work.

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Once we crossed over to Rajasthan though, things calmed down. Traffic was heavy — the Jaipur road is infamous for its heavy truck traffic — but it is nothing we didn’t anticipate.  From there on it was steady going to Ajmer.

We pulled in to Ajmer close to around 10pm, giving us enought time to rest and wake up to explore the city. Follow what were up to on social media with the #IndiaDiamondTrail and #RenaultDiamond hashtags!